Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making eBook

ermine, gris, and Hungarian squirrel, was restricted
to the royal families and the nobility, to whom they
served as distinctive marks and badges of rank.
These privileged persons applied them lavishly to
their own use, and the fashion extended to the princes
of other less civilized nations. Their royal use
soon extended to Tartary, and the tents of the Khan
were bedecked with the most rich and costly furs.
In the following century, furs were commonly worn
in England until their use was prohibited by Edward
III., to all persons whose purse would not warrant
a yearly expenditure of L100.

The early fur trade of Western Europe, was conducted
through the merchants on the south coast of the Baltic,
who received goods from the ports of Livonia.
In the sixteenth century, a direct trade was opened
between the English and Russians; and a company of
the former, protected by the Czar, established trading
posts on the White Sea, and a warehouse at Moscow,
whence they sent trading parties to Persia and the
countries on the Caspian Sea. The Czar sent rich
presents of beautiful furs, to Queen Mary and Queen
Elizabeth; but the latter prohibited the wearing of
any but native furs, and the trade soon declined and
was abandoned. In the 17th century, Siberia was
conquered by the Russians, and its tribute was paid
in furs. Large quantities were also furnished
to China, but the choicest kinds—­the precious
ermine, the brilliant, fiery foxes, and the best sables,
were taken to Moscow, for the use of the princes and
nobles of Russia, Turkey, and Persia.

In our own country, the early settlers of the Northern
provinces, soon learned the value of the furs of the
numerous animals which peopled the extensive rivers,
lakes, and forests of these vast territories.
They collected the skins in abundance, and found an
increasing demand for them, with every new arrival
of immigrants from the mother country. Trinkets,
liquors, and other articles sought for by the native
tribes, were shipped to Quebec, and from thence up
the St. Lawrence to Montreal, which soon became the
great trading post of the country. The various
tribes of Indians were stimulated by trifling compensation,
to pursue their only congenial and peaceful occupation;
and the French settlers, readily assimilating to the
Indian habits, became themselves expert hunters, trappers,
and explorers.

The business prospered, and the English soon became
interested and secured a share of the valuable trade.
Many [Page 280] wealthy and influential parties,
connected with the government of Great Britain,—­Prince
Rupert and Lord Ashley, among the number—­became
deeply interested in this source of revenue; and after
a successful enterprise, they obtained from Charles
II., a charter of incorporation, giving to them full
possession of the territory within the entrance of
Hudson’s Straits, not already granted to other
subjects, or possessed by those of any other Christian
prince or State. In this charter was included